


Every Daydream has You by my Side

by HorseCrazyWriter76



Series: Experiment 2318 Endings [5]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Blood, Gen, Referenced violence, Self-Harm, picking at scabs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:28:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23100217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HorseCrazyWriter76/pseuds/HorseCrazyWriter76
Summary: Where Patton escaped first.This is an alternate ending for a fic titled Experiment 2318. It will not make sense if you don't read up to at least chapter 19.
Series: Experiment 2318 Endings [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1569304
Comments: 14
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

Pinky wasn’t quite sure how he got here. He was certain he meant to go back and get Thumb, Cheek, and Middle.

The sun baked him, and the cool water was welcome on his bare feet. Pinky knew where the lab was. He just needed to go back to the street, walk about 50 steps, then he would be right there and able to go get Thumb, Cheek, and Middle.

The sun dried his teardrops before they had a chance to run completely down his face, and the cool water was welcome on his bare feet. It had been easy, too easy. Snake had paused to get something from a room, confident the child who was so quiet and easy to work with wouldn’t go anywhere. It was about 20 steps out of the lab, then he took 50 more, and he was sitting on a piece of weathered wood overhanging a giant stretch of water. The quiet child who did what he was told picked at an almost-healed scar running from his knee to his hip.

_“Don’t pick at it,” Snake reprimanded him._

Pinky’s hand’s stilled, then pulled again.

The sun ignored the blood, and the cool water was welcome on his bare feet. Hands with the edges of blood stains lifted to his face, as his breath hitched.

“Hey, you don’t look too hot.”

Pinky looked up to find someone standing waist-deep in the water in front of him.

“Me?” he whispered when he thought he could speak without lapsing in to full on tears.

“I don’t see anyone else around,” the person replied, gesturing to the abandoned sand.

“Oh,” Pinky said, looking down at the now-dried blood on his hands.

“What happened?”

“A lot of stuff.”

“Okay, better question, whose blood is that?”

“Mine.”

“Okay, where’s it coming from?”

“My leg.”

“Can I see?”

Pinky shifted so that his leg was in view of the person, who inhaled sharply.

“Are you okay?”

“I think so.”

“How old are you?”

Pinky had to pause for a moment to think up the answer. 11 when the singing came and they weren’t heard. That had been a year ago, right? A little less than that? But he felt older than 12.

“Thirteen,” he finally said.

The person was quiet for a moment, “How did you get hurt?”

Pinky’s hand drifted towards the part of the cut that hadn’t been opened.

“Don’t do that,” the person said.

Pinky put his hand on his lap.

“Where are your parents?”

Pinky chewed on the inside of his lip.

“Are you a runaway?”

“Yeah.”

“Where are you staying tonight?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t plan to leave; I just had an opportunity.”

“Where do you go to school?”

“I don’t.”

“Did you parents home school you?”

“No.”

Silence stretched between them. Pinky’s fingers reached for his leg again, but he stilled them.

“Do you want to stay with me for tonight?”

“I don’t want to intrude.”

“It won’t be any trouble.”

Pinky chewed on the inside of his lip. If he went with the person he might not be able to find the lab again. But he also had no better place to go. Besides, the person seemed surprised at the wound, so Pinky didn’t think the person would hurt him.

“Okay.”

“I’m Heidie.”

“I’m Pinky.”

The person gave him another strange look but didn’t comment as they walked out on to the sand.


	2. Chapter 2

Pinky sat in the living room and looked around. Heidie said she was going to set up the guest room for him and that he could make himself comfortable. There were so many books. Pinky had never really gotten the hang of reading and writing. When Cheek read his eyes practically buzzes as he took in all of the information, then could practically recite it back to you. Thumb was a bit less precise. Middle… Pinky didn’t even want to picture Middle in his mind’s eyes.

Snake hated Middle. They didn’t talk much, at all really, but Pinky could tell the feeling was mutual.

His back twanged with pain, and he reached under his shirt to feel the bandage. The wound had been pretty quiet for the last few days. Pinky guessed it was making up for lost time. Snake had put something that smelled weird on it yesterday. Pinky probably needed to change the bandage or just peel it off like he did with the one on his leg. Snake had long since given up putting a bandage on an area not covered by their gowns. He blinked, then rubbed out his contacts.

Pinky stared down at the tiny lenses on the table, then his hands wandered towards his legs. It took two tries before his pinky got a good hold and the scab came up a little bit, blood beading to the surface. The thought came to mind that he probably shouldn’t get blood on the furniture and he pulled his leg up and his gown down so that the edge began to absorb the blood.

Heidie made him go to the restroom when she saw him. She bandaged the cut on his leg, then made him show her the other cuts. She peeled off the bandages, smeared something on the cut on his back, then rebandaged them and gave him loose clothing before leaving. Pinky pulled off the gown and looked at himself. Well, he was pretty sure it was himself. The person looked remarkably similar to his siblings and followed his movement. Heidie had had a twin in the surface, too, when she was there.

Pinky...hadn’t realized he had that many scars. He knew how many scars Thumb had, and Middle sometimes let Pinky cuddle with him when he had nightmares, and then Pinky could feel the little bumps of scar tissue. Cheek didn’t like to talk about it, and even managed to wheedle an extra gown out of Snake, which he used to cover himself more completely.

“Are you okay in there?” Heidie called from beyond the door.

“Yup! Almost done!” Pinky called back and quickly slipped on the sweater and pants, his scars disappearing under their folds. He pushed open the door and handed the gown to Heidie. She took it and stared at the bloodstain for a moment.

“Did they...your parents, did they make all of those cuts?”

“Snake. Snake did it.”

“Your…”

“Parent.”

Heidie slowly started to fold the gown.

“I have three siblings,” Pinky blurted out.

Heidie finished folding the gown. The bloodstain didn’t show the way she folded it.

“Are they like you?”

Pinky nodded.

“We’ll get them out.”


	3. Chapter 3

“It was that easy?” Cheek asked, breaking the silence. Pinky and Heidie had just finished explaining how they met and got them out.

“I wouldn’t say it was easy.”

“Each one of us has attempted at least one escape,” Cheek said, “Three has been the only successful one, and that was the first one he organized alone, to my knowledge.”

“I wouldn’t say I organized it, I just saw that I could and I did.”

“That’s exactly how Four attempted his first escape.”

All gazes turned to the silent form curled up on the chair. Four curled up farther in to himself, his hand covering the stump of his foot.

“I had...Snake’s trust?”

“That’s likely the determining factor in the success of the first operation, but how did you succeed the second time?”

“Heidie knows stuff we don’t?” Pinky ventured.

“All I did was point out that the man had to go home at some point and common places to hide keys,” Heidie protested.

“Are you a robber?” Thumb asked, stars glinting in his eyes.

“What? No!”

“Are you thure?”

“Yes.”

“How did you know he had to go home?”

“No one lives at their work place unless they work from home.”

“What about common place to hide key?”

“Home safety. I looked them up, then I hid my spare key somewhere else.”

“Where ith it?”

Heidie gave Thumb a long look.

“What?”

“This is in no way related to the topic at hand,” Cheek said, crossing his arms.

“But wouldn’t it be cool to live with a robber?”

“No,” Heidie, Cheek, and Pinky answered at the same time.

“Besides, you all can’t live here forever.”

“Of course not, we’ll move out once we’re adults,” Cheek replied.

“I don’t have the resources to raise four teenagers for five years.”

“We’re adults when we’re 23?”

“No. How old are you?”

“For all intents and purposes we’re 13.”

“What do you mean?”

“We have existed for two years.”

“There’s no way you’re two years old.”

“We’re 13. We aged a year in maturity per month until we were eleven, and now it’s slowed so that we age two years in maturity for every year that passes. I assume it’ll continue that rate until we’re the same age as Dr. Sanders.”

Heidie was silent for a moment, “I’ll call around to see if some other people can take you in.”

Thumb, Cheek, Pinky, and Middle nodded.


	4. Chapter 4

Pinky felt Middle grab on to the edge of his shirt. It was warm outside, but each of them had insisted on long sleeves. The house in front of them seemed to stretch on for miles. It’s doors seemed ready to swing shut behind them and gobble them in to the winding halls. Heidie was already knocking on the door with Cheek right beside her and Thumb just behind him. Pinky forced himself to walk up the steps. He felt Middle hesitate and held out his hand. An answering hand fell in to his, and they shuffled slowly towards the door. A pair of people emerged from within.

“Heidie! It’s so nice to see you. I guess these were the boys you were talking about?” the shorter of the two said.

“Yes, I-” Heidie was interrupted by ringing in her pocket. She pulled out a small rectangle, then excused herself and walked back towards the car.

“Well, I’m Emile. This is Remy.”

“Do you want a tour?” Remy asked.

“That would be acceptable,” Cheek replied, just as Pinky and Middle caught up to them.

They stepped inside the house. It seemed much more reasonably sized from the inside. The tour was short, ending in one of the two rooms for the four of them.

“Alright, we’ll leaf you four to get settled. We’ll be downstairs if you need anything, and you can use Remy’s old laptop.”

“What does a leaf have to do with getting settled?” Cheek asked.

“It’s a pun,” Emile replied. His smile faltered a tiny bit.

“What’s a pun?”

“It’s a play on words. You substitute a word for another that sounds similar.”

“Why would you do that?” Cheek asked, his face scrunching up.

“It can be funny, like a joke.”

There was silence in the room for a moment.

“What’s a joke?” Pinky asked.

“Oh, um, it’s something you say to make someone laugh. Like this, why do flamingos sleep on one leg?”

“What are flamingos?” Cheek asked.

Emile’s smile really faltered then, but it was quickly replaced, “They’re a type of animal. Why don’t you look up pictures on the computer?”

“What’s a computer?”

Their ‘settling down’ time quickly became a time for learning. Emile showed them how the laptop worked, Cheek wanted to try taking it apart to see all the components, but Emile said he should probably start on something simpler. When everyone was satisfied with the knowledge they had Thumb kidnapped the laptop to start planning out their rooms. Emile started to leave.

“Wait, Emile, what’s the answer to that joke?” Pinky asked.

“Which joke?”

“The one about the flamingos?”

“Oh, why do flamingos sleep with one leg up?”

“Why?”

“Because if they slept with both legs up they would fall over!” Emile finished.

Pinky felt little stirrings like butterflies coming up his throat until laughter poured out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Bows* Thank you for reading. This is where I'm going to leave Experiment 2318. I've been working on two new projects, the first of which will start being posted later today.

**Author's Note:**

> Heidie is pronounced hey-dee


End file.
